COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION of DIRECTIVE 2007/2/EC establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE)
Date: 2022-07-13
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU environmental policy, access to information, application of EU law, environmental law, exchange of information, geographical information system, information network, information system, transmission network

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 13.7.2022  SWD(2022) 196 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION  of DIRECTIVE 2007/2/EC establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) {SWD(2022) 195 final}  
 
 
INTRODUCTION 

Directive 2007/02/EC  establishing an  Infrastructure for Spatial  Information in  the European 
Community  (INSPIRE)  aims  to  create  a  European  Union  spatial  data  infrastructure  for  the 
purposes  of  EU  environmental  policies  and  other  policies  or  activities  which  may  have  an 
impact on the environment. The INSPIRE Directive came into force on 15 May 2007 and was 
required  to  be  implemented  in various  stages, with  full  implementation  required  by  end  of 
2021.  INSPIRE  builds  on  the  infrastructures  for  spatial  information  already  established  and 
operated by the Member States of the European Union and requires Member States to: 

1.  set  up  coordination  structures  and  adopt  and  implement  legal  measures  to  remove 

procedural obstacles to the sharing of spatial data; 

2.  identify their spatial data relevant to environmental policies and those actions with an 

environment impact; 

3.  document the spatial data so that they can be accessed by authorities and the public on 

the internet together with other information; 

4.  implement  online  services  allowing  the  discovery,  visualisation  and  download  of 

spatial data; 

5.  gradually organise and publish the spatial data in common data models. 

The Directive is a crucial framework for data management in the EU and in Member States 
and  it  complements  other  EU  instruments  facilitating  access  to  and  dissemination  of 
environmental information. Although the Directive was designed as an environmental policy 
instrument,  its  implementation  has  demonstrated  its  value  for  implementing  other  policies, 
even where there is no legal requirement. This is for the following reasons: 

  The principles and protocols on which INSPIRE is built are based on internationally 

recognised standards for disseminating geospatial data. 

  The  quantity  of  data  becomes  ever  more  abundant,  which  provides  significant 
opportunities  for  better  policies,  implementation,  environmental  protection  and 
commercial applications. 

  Today’s societal challenges call for cross-cutting interventions and many EU policies 
are so interwoven that new policies inevitably must aim to achieve multiple objectives, 
notably the European Green Deal. This calls for better data sharing to underpin better 
policy at less cost.  

  The currency of the modern data economy is data and, as highlighted in the EU digital 

strategy, INSPIRE is a front-runner instrument. 

It  is  therefore  even  more  important  to  evaluate  the  Directive  to  ascertain  how  it  functions, 
formally and on the ground. This evaluation’s evidence and much of the analysis builds on a 
comprehensive  external  contractor  report,  which  includes  information  from  literature/desk 
research,  targeted  consultation  activities  in  seven  representative  Member  States  and  four 
relevant  sectors  (environment,  marine,  spatial  data,  agriculture)  and  a  12-week  public 
consultation.  A  workshop  was  also  organised  to  discuss  and  validate  the  findings  of  the 
report. 

The evaluation also takes stock of the experiences gained in the implementation of INSPIRE 
and its coherence with other relevant instruments notably the Public Access to Environmental 
Information Directive. 

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MAIN FINDINGS 

Compared to the baseline situation in 2007, when  hardly any spatial  data was electronically 
shared  between  public  administrations,  considerable  progress  has  been  made.  INSPIRE  has 
improved efficiency by creating a framework for distributing spatial data according to FAIR 
(Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. The main direct added value of the 
INSPIRE  Directive  consists  of  promoting  data  sharing  as  a  common  principle,  the 
establishment  of  governance  structures,  EU-wide  interoperability,  unlocking  public  data, 
improving  transparency  and  creating  a  pool  of  EU-level  expertise.  EU  added  value  of  the 
INSPIRE Directive can be maintained and further enhanced through its effective positioning 
in the emerging European data governance landscape and becoming one of the key drivers for 
the upcoming Green Deal data space, supporting the implementation of Green Deal strategies 
and supporting environmental democracy through a higher level of transparency.  

Still, implementation gaps remain and the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive as well 
as the sharing and reuse of existing spatial data face barriers of technical and organisational 
nature. The evaluation finds that the INSPIRE Directive’s technical over-specification renders 
the legal framework less fit for the future in the light of technological evolution and affects its 
capacity to fulfil its full potential. Interoperability (of data and services) was identified as the 
most important cost factor in the INSPIRE implementation. There is a simplification potential 
of  the  implementation  in  terms  of  addressing  the  too  detailed  interoperability  requirements. 
This would also allow to make the legal framework technology neutral and increase the cost-
effectiveness  by  allowing  implementers  to  use  off-the-shelf  tools  for  the  implementation  of 
the  INSPIRE  Directive.  Moreover,  some  discretion  in  application  of  data  specifications 
should  be  allowed.  INSPIRE  on  its  own  is  not  sufficient  to  ensure  cross-border  and  cross-
sector interoperability. Extra effort is needed to render spatial data into usable information for 
end-users  as  exemplified  by  the  European  Marine,  Observation  and  Data  Network 
(EMODnet) for the marine domain. 

In  those  Member  States  where  detailed  cost-benefit  analysis  were  conducted,  the  results 
achieved so far are in line with the ones expected from the ex-ante evaluation of INSPIRE. As 
implementation is still in progress, results cannot be fully assessed yet. Most costs related to 
the implementation of the Directive are largely borne by national governments. Users of the 
spatial data infrastructure do not perceive extraordinary costs. 

INSPIRE was found legally coherent with environmental legislation and with other relevant 
areas of EU policy with  spatial data needs. The INSPIRE Directive has been designed to  be 
consistent  with  the  EU  legal  framework  on  data  sharing  and  dissemination  and  can  support 
implementation of Public Access to Environmental Information Directive and the Open Data 
Directive.  Synergies  between  the  three  Directives  could  however  be  better  exploited.  In 
particular,  INSPIRE can be useful in  further  supporting  active  dissemination of information 
under the aforementioned two Directives. 

In  conclusion,  the  evaluation  demonstrated  that  the  INSPIRE  Directive  is  still  very 
relevant  for  addressing  data  sharing  obstacles  from  the  past  and  data  needs  for  the 
future. Against this increasing relevance, it was also shown that the legal framework can 
be  improved  in  terms  of  its  effectiveness.  Modernisation  supported  by  improved 
implementation  will  render  the  intervention  a  key  instrument  to  make  the  necessary 
data available needed to address environmental challenges (A Green Deal for Europe), 
increase  environmental  democracy  and  strengthen  the  emerging  data  economy 
(European Common Data Spaces).  

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